Monastery of São Dinis de Odivelas

The Monastery of Saint Denis (Portuguese: Mosteiro de São Dinis) is located in the city of Odivelas, near Lisbon, in Portugal.

What is known for certain is that King Dinis founded the feminine Cistercian monastery in 1295 on an isolated spot of the Portuguese hinterland, around which the village of Odivelas developed.

The existence of a royal palace in Odivelas meant that the monastery was favoured by some Portuguese monarchs during the Middle Ages.

[1] In the early 16th century there were several improvements in the monastery, including the building of a new cloister in Manueline style and a Renaissance gallery by the entrance.

With the dissolution of religious orders in the 19th century, the monastery was adapted by the Portuguese military to serve as an educational institution for girls.

The apse is a typical example of the plain Gothic of the monasteries built by the mendicant orders in mediaeval Portugal: clear forms and little decoration.

His tomb, as well as that of his daughter Maria Afonso, are remarkable examples of early 14th-century Portuguese sculpture, even though they were damaged by the 1755 earthquake and by Napoleonic troops that invaded Portugal in the 19th century.